And if it was Oxycodone; they would have
a " tax bonanza ". To me this shows how flawed the war on
drugs is a waste of reasources and wrongly directed.
If I grow a high priced herb or plant( garlic,mushrooms,
thyme,ect.)- I lower demand. To tell coca( poppy or hash)
growers that you are sitting on a gold mine; but your product
is going to harm the END CONSUMER ! A moral argument.
These folks(poor farmers) have a stark choice and faced with thier day to day poverty CANNOT make the moral connection to injury done to others because they grew a
$ crop that has been in thier culture for millennia. Just as it difficult to have Empathy with land use motives in central and south
America -as a consumer of coconuts, bananas,and palm oil
here in the US. This situation was hijacked in the 1970's by short sighted profit driven approach involving bandaging a cut artery with a dirty bandaid and expecting complete healing; when we could have implemented a long term realistic
plan that incorporated more of the actual aspects.
It is a global problem ; and the solutions have been enacted in some regions in some countries.
There is no quick solution to such a difficult
aspect of humanity.Approaching it with old biases
and methods IS PLAINLY INSANITY. People transitioning from tobacco use HERE(US) are expected to quit a drug( more addictive than heroin) by supplying thier own medicine that most times is EXTRODINARALY Expensive and difficult to get. Yet the money is going SOMEWHERE-just as you post shows- the issue continues infect.

Ummmm, just in Costa Rica?